Maybe One Day
by chicagoonmymindxo
Summary: Intelligence detectives Jay Halstead and Erin Lindsay and their undeniable chemistry with one another are reunited after he returns from a one year deployment overseas with the United States Army. How much has changed in a year? Will the two remain partners in crime or can they make a relationship work? Eventual Linstead.
1. Prologue

Prologue

Jay Halstead rounded the corner of Main Street in downtown Chicago, Illinois with his partner, Erin Lindsay on his arm. The young detectives were dressed in their best evening wear as if they were headed to an award show. Instead, the two were headed to Erin's high school reunion that was being hosted at the Hilton Hotel. Erin had her reservations at first about going, considering her troubled past as a teenager and the reputation that she had made for herself with the girls in high school. In the end, Erin decided that she'd go and show the girls that had made her teenage life hell who she had become, and how she ended up on top with a handsome young man as arm candy. Jay felt Erin suddenly stop in her tracks, jerking him backwards. He turned his head to look at her, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his black slacks.

"What am I doing here?" Erin asked herself and to Jay at the same time.

"I thought we were going to your high school reunion." Jay questioned.

"No, I mean, why did I come? I don't owe anyone explanation and I don't know why I felt the need to come up with some elaborate ruse to fit in with these people. I'm happy with where I'm at. I've got family, I've got friends, I've got a job that I love, I don't need these people."

"Then let's go, let's get out of here. I'll buy you dinner, and maybe dessert." Jay teased his partner. She gave him a lop-sided grin as the two turned around and headed back for the car that was around the corner.

XOXOXO

Jay and Erin found themselves having an in-depth conversation of Erin's past and her troubles in high school over Italian food at a restaurant that was eighteen stories high up in the sky overlooking the city of Chicago. Jay and Erin had been working together all of a six months and while he knew her day-to-day habits like how she took her coffee and how she was never a minute late for work, until that night he didn't know what made Erin Lindsay the phenomenal young woman that she was. She had been explaining to him that after her father went to prison, and her mother was always too high and drunk to care about her, she became a street kid. After a few years on the street, she had met their current sergeant and boss in the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department, Hank Voight. He and his wife had taken her in, saved her life, and she created a whole new identity for herself much like she had done tonight when she had tried to create this elaborate story of the places she had gone, the person she had become, and the man she was going to marry just to impress them.

"You figure out who your real friends are pretty quick when the word's out that your mom's a junkie and your dad's in jail."

"Whose ass did you kick first?" Jay quipped with his award-winning grin on his face.

Erin let out a small chuckle because it sounded like something she would do. However, Hank Voight had put a lot on the line and put aside his ego to get her into the school that she had been in. There was no way that Erin would have gotten away with kicking their asses for turning their backs on her after finding out who she really was and she definitely didn't want to disappoint or let down Hank Voight after everything that the man had done and sacrificed for a street kid that he had only known for a few years.

Jay could see the pain in her eyes as she explained how she ate the torment instead of standing up to the petty high school girls and how she couldn't understand why it still bothered her so much to the point where she had to create a fictional world with Jay to impress them. It impressed him that she thought that he could pass for someone who was devilishly attractive and filthy rich enough to be the man on her arm that night. To say that Jay had a thing for his partner was an understatement but there was no way that the two of them could ever act on it. There was a clear rule that detectives, especially in Hank Voight's Intelligence Unit, couldn't date in-house or in-unit. If things went awry, it often disrupted the family structure and would cause people to become distracted from their jobs. Distractions often costed people their life. Jay reached over and he took her hand in his, running the pad of his thumb over her fingers to comfort her.

They locked eyes for a solid moment before she spoke, "We can't."

"Come on, let's get you home." Jay stood up, not wanting to make the moment anymore awkward for the either of them. The two of them locked eyes one more time before she stood up, inches apart from him.

"Maybe one day." She uttered.

"Oh definitely." He flashed his famous grin at her before wrapping his arm around her shoulders and leading her out of the restaurant.

XOXOXO

"Well, this is me." Erin said as they stood at her door to her apartment, with their eyes locked, her sweater folded over her arm.

"Erin, I don't want you to think that this you is not good enough because this you is more than enough for me." He spoke in a soft voice.

Jay played with the fabric inside of his pockets where his hands were stuck inside as their eyes never left each other. He knew that he had to break eye contact with her before he did something stupid like lean into kiss her and get shot down because he knew that it was something they couldn't do. They couldn't get involved. Hank Voight had already given him a clear warning, twice, since joining the unit that romantically Erin was off limits to him. While Jay knew Voight had his rules, and he was never one to question authority, he couldn't help but think that part of his reasoning behind said rules because Voight thought of Erin as a daughter. He also knew that Jay was definitely Erin's type and wanted to keep them both attentive and focused on the job ahead of them and not on each other. When partners because involved and infatuated with each other, it was often hard where to draw the line between a work relationship and a personal relationship.

"Sergeant Jay Halstead?" Jay broke eye contact with Erin to shift them towards the uniformed man that was standing a few feet away from them.

"Yes sir, I'm Jay Halstead." Jay responded pulling his hands from his pockets and saluting the man of higher rank.

"At ease, soldier. The United States Army is pulling you and your unit from reserve and sending you back into theater. You leave tomorrow morning at 0800." The man explained to him.

"Yes sir." He responded taking the papers from the man's hands that he was offering to him and watched as the older man of higher rank disappeared down the hall and out of the building.

After high school, Jay Halstead had chosen to join the United States Army seeing as college was out of the question and out of the Halstead's family affordability as his brother had been draining their parents' savings to go to medical school to become a trauma specialist. Off the bat, he had chosen to join the security forces. He had gone from checking IDs and doing searches of vehicles entering and leaving the base, to a year as a military police officer, before going to Ranger School to become an Army Ranger. Off the bat, the United States Army had recognized his skill of being a sniper and Ranger School had only helped him improve on those skills.

Jay had seen his fair share of horrible things while he had been over sees, and he had lived by the 'shoot first, ask questions later' motto for most of his career, but then his mother had gotten sick and he knew that he had to return home. His extended furlough had turned into him joining the reserves so that he could still be covered underneath his military benefits, while being able to stay home and take care of his mother. He also used this time to pursue other interests, and with his experience of being in the security forces and as a military police officer, he decided that he could definitely pursue a career in law enforcement.

While going through the police academy, Jay's mother succumbed to cancer, but not before having him promise her that he was going to go on to be the best police officer that the Chicago Police Department had ever seen. He did just that. After graduating the Academy, he worked the beat for a year, and joined the Gang Unit which was something that he had truly enjoyed before he had been caught in the middle of a shootout between dirty cops, and had been shot in the shoulder. Rule of thumb was that if an officer was shot in the line of duty and survived, that they had their choice of their next assignment. Jay requested to become part of the Intelligence Unit and with his experience in the military, Voight was happy to take him.

XOXOXO

Jay dressed in his camouflage beige and green uniform stood at the terminal gate surrounded by the entire Intelligence Unit, his second family, as they asked questions to which he had no answers for. Jay looked down at his beige boots that were perfectly tied together before looking up at the people in front of him, locking eyes with the one and only Erin Lindsay. He pulled his eyes away from hers when he heard the announcement that his flight was going to begin boarding.

"Well, that's me." Jay remarked and he gave one last look to the men (and the woman) that huddled around him.

"You come back to us, safe and sound, you hear?" Antonio Dawson held out his hand. Jay shook his hand, giving him a hug.

"You got it."

"As much as I pick on you, you fit well into this unit, and you'll have your job waiting for you when you return. So you better get your ass back here, Halstead. That's an order." Voight gave him a serious look and shake of the hand.

"Come on guys, let's give them a moment." Antonio said. Jay hugged and shook the hands with the rest of the members, except Erin, before they walked away to give him and his partner a few seconds to say their own goodbye.

"I'm not going to say goodbye to you, because you're going to come back. You have to come back. So don't go over there and be a smartass and get yourself killed." Erin warned him and he nodded his head, a grin appearing on his face.

"A kiss for good luck?" Jay asked, raising an eyebrow in her direction.

"You wish, Halstead." Erin wrapped her arms around his neck, reaching up to give him his hug, before placing a kiss on the back of his neck. "Maybe one day." She mumbled softly before pulling away and out of his arms.

"Oh definitely." He repeated back to her, as if it was their own little saying.

"See you later." Erin replied, walking away to join the rest of the unit who was standing a few feet away to see him off. Jay grabbed his bag that matched his uniform that was sitting next to him on the ground, and he slung it over his shoulder as he headed for the gate. He looked over his shoulder once more before boarding the plane.

XOXOXO

Let me know what you guys thought! This isn't my first story that I've written for this site, but my first in quite a few years. Discovering these shows and this fandom has seriously made my life complete. This was just kind of an introduction chapter to give you guys a little background on the characters, their storylines, and what not. Obviously, this is going to be Linstead centric but you'll get moments with other couples and obviously a few bromances.

I also wanted to let you know that I'll post my stories here and on WattPad (underneath the same username) so whatever platform or site you use to read my stories, feedback is appreciated.

Be on the lookout for Chapter 1 which picks up a year or so after Jay's deployment and him adjusting back to civilian life and all the changes the Intelligence Unit detectives have gone through.

Signed,

"Chase"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

1 YEAR LATER

Sergeant Jay Halstead stood at attention next to the casket that was propped up over the freshly dug grave at the Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery as the service began. The taps, or horns, blew and echoed on that cold Chicago morning. Jay's eyes didn't move even though he had become slightly distracted by the loud uncontrollable sob coming from the slain soldier's wife and children. The shots from the shotguns rang in the air causing the guests in attendance to jump, but Jay Halstead stood firm in his place. Sadly, he had been to too many military funerals to be startled by the noise.

Jay turned abruptly to his side to face the casket as did the soldier on the other end. They reached for the ends of the flag that was resting over the casket on their respective sides. Once Jay nodded, which was his signal to the other soldier to proceed to the next step without having to voice a command, they stepped to the side and began folding the flag. Once the flag was folded into a perfect triangle, Jay turned the flag over to place it between his palms. He raised the flag slowly as the other soldier saluted, and Jay nodded again dismissing him to return to his spot. Jay knelt down on the ground in front of the soldier's wife, someone he had gotten to know quite well over the years since Jay had served with the soldier personally for years before joining the reserves, and placed the flag into her lap his palms still resting on it.

"On behalf of the President of the United States, the United States Army, and a grateful nation, please accept this flag as a symbol of our appreciation for your loved one's honorable and faithful service." Jay whispered in a soft voice, locking eyes with the weepy woman.

Once she thanked him, he stood to his feet, and returned to his place next to the casket. The casket was then lowered into the ground, and the service ended. Jay watched as those in attendance left and once he was the only one left, he embraced his friend's wife in a hug to comfort her. After he embraced her, he hugged each one of the children who had just watched their father be buried.

"If you need anything, Jess, you let me know." Jay told her after he finished hugging and telling the kids that they should be proud of their father for his service, and that he was always going to be in their hearts.

"I will. Thank you for being here, Jay." She replied. He watched as she and the kids said some final words and began to leave the cemetery.

Jay looked over his shoulder at the grave one more time before following them out of the cemetery. Instead of attending the little get together in the soldier's remembrance that Jess was holding at her house for family and friends, Jay decided he'd make sure that he had all his reserve paperwork and post-duty paperwork filled out and filed which he was sure was going to take the rest of the afternoon. While he had pre-decided that he was going to head to the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department in the morning to make his reappearance, he knew that it was a Thursday night and the unit would be gathered at a local bar named Molly's after shift and would just make his appearance then.

XOXOXO

After spending four to six hours at the US Army Reserve Training Center off of Pulaski Road filling out and filing paperwork regarding his most recent deployment and the funeral of one of his dearest friends to make sure that Jess didn't have to stress about too much, he decided that it was time to call it quits. Jay exited the building, sliding his red beret over his head that went with the dress uniform that he had worn earlier to the funeral and was still wearing. He crossed the gravel parking lot and he hopped into his car the moment that he arrived at it. Staring it up, he reached for the heater and turned it up two notches holding his hands over the vents to warm them up. The small trek from the building to his car had made his hands feel like he stepped out of an icebox.

Jay entered downtown Chicago as it was on the way to his apartment on the other side bobbing his head to whatever song was playing on the radio. He nearly drove by Molly's barely recognizing it. He slammed on his breaks and he pulled into a spot across the street. If it hadn't been for the green neon light that said Molly's that had been put on the outside of the building, he would have completely driven by it.

The soldier turned off the car, stepping out of the vehicle, and heading across the street to the bar. He wrapped his hand around the handle of the door that was positively freezing, and he pulled the wooden door towards him so that it would open. He slipped inside, and his eyes grazed the crowd that was huddled inside of the bar laughing and having a good time. His eyes landed on the same brunette whom had hugged him last a year ago, and she was letting out a loud laugh like the others after someone cracked a joke in the group. An arm was draped around her, and Jay recognized him as a local firefighter that they often crossed paths with.

"Jay? Jay! Oh my God, you're back!" Erin shrieked, jumping out of her chair and running through the crowd to meet him where he was standing.

"Erin—hi— "He said and he was taken back as she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

"You're alive, you're safe, you're not hurt right?" She asked, running her hands over his uniform basically patting him down to see if he was injured.

"I'm fine, I'm good, I promise." Jay chuckled.

He looked up at the others as they began to wave him over. Erin took his hand, dragging him towards them. The first one to greet him was Antonio Dawson, the one that he had tasked with the job to keep Erin safe while he was gone considering he wanted to return to Erin as his partner and not someone else in her place. He made his rounds greeting each and every one with a handshake and a hug. When he made his way to the familiar face, the firefighter, and he shook his hand as well.

"Nice to see you again, Kelly." Jay greeted before sitting down on the other side of Erin who had just pulled up the seat for him.

"You too, man, glad to see you back in one piece." Kelly nodded his head.

While Jay wasn't certain, he could tell that there was definitely something going on between Erin and Kelly, and it was a long time coming seeing as the entire unit had placed bets on them a year ago of how long it was going to take them to become involved with one another. It was easier for her to date Kelly then it was for her to date Jay, when factoring in Voight's rules and having him constantly breathing down his neck about staying away from Erin.

"I think we all can say how glad we are that you came back in one piece. Why didn't you let us know that you were coming home though?" Hank Voight's voiced in his normal raspy tone.

"Well, I wasn't due back for another month but I had to escort a body home. I'm not here to talk about that though, I'm here to spend time with you guys." Jay said quickly diverting the subject, probably because he hadn't had enough time himself to process everything that had gone on in the last few days.

"Can we get another round of beers over here?" Hank Voight raised his hand towards the bar where the bartender nodded her head to let them know that she was bringing them.

Molly's, the bar, was owned and operated by firefighters to provide a safe haven after work for all first responders to go where people would understand what kind of days they had and what kind of things they went through. The bartender, Gabriela Dawson, was also a firefighter at the same firehouse that Kelly Severide worked at. She walked out from behind the bar as another firefighter and licensed bartender took her place so that the bar wasn't left unattended.

"Halstead, looking sharp in that uniform of yours. Did I ever tell you that I had a thing for men in uniform?" Gabby chuckled, resting her arm on his shoulder, after delivering the beers to the table.

"Aren't you engaged or something?" Jay joked while Gabby raised her left hand to show him her engagement ring that was sitting tightly on her finger.

Jay only knew that she was engaged because Gabby had written him a few letters during his year overseas to try to keep him in the loop, but because she was a firefighter and not a police officer, he knew everything going on within Firehouse 51. The only thing that Gabby wouldn't dish on was what was going on between Erin and Kelly considering it wasn't her place, and she figured that Erin was going to tell him on her own time.

"Oh that's right, I am," Gabby sighed happily before she retreated back to behind the bar where she could resume doing what she loved and serving her fellow first responders. Jay just shook his head chuckling before he reached forward, taking his beer in his hand, and bringing it to his lips for a sip.

XOXOXO

"It's been a long day and I think I'm going to turn in for the night." Jay announced after his third or fourth beer that late Thursday night.

"You better get some sleep so that you'll be rested up for work, Halstead." Voight replied in a non-conspicuous tone.

"What?"

"You heard me. I told you that there'd be a spot waiting for you in Intelligence when you got back from over there and there is. Be in the bullpen by 8 AM sharp." Voight tried to say without becoming annoyed at Halstead for questioning what he was saying.

"Yes sir, got it. Thank you." Jay reached out and he shook Voight's hand before the older man told him to get out of there. "Walk out with me?" Jay nodded towards Erin, who nodded in return.

The two stood up from the table and they walked out of the now half-empty bar. Most of the firefighters had returned home, including Kelly, as they had to be on the shift in the next morning. Jay opened the wooden door outward, and he walked through it, slipping his red beret on his head as they stepped out onto the sidewalk. He rubbed his hands together, blowing into them, as they suddenly became cold. Erin stood in front of him with her hands stuffed in her pockets.

"I'm really glad you came back in one piece. As much as I love Antonio, I wanted my old partner back." Erin grinned.

"I bet. I'm sure you miss just having someone to look at. Not my fault that Antonio is not as devilishly handsome as I am." Jay said and she pulled a hand out of her pocket to shove his shoulder playfully. "In all seriousness, maybe we can catch up over dinner tomorrow night after shift?"

"I can't. I have plans to have dinner with Kelly over at the firehouse while he's on shift, but maybe Saturday night?" She smiled sweetly at him. He nodded his head slowly.

"Yeah, of course, sure. I don't want to keep you away much longer so I'll let you go." Jay said. He wrapped his arms around Erin, and she wrapped her arms around him playing her hands on his shoulder blades, leaning into his shoulder.

"I'll see you tomorrow at work." She smiled breaking the embrace and returning to the door of Molly's. He nodded his head before crossing the street to get to his vehicle.

XOXOXO

When he arrived at his apartment with his army duffel bag in his hand, he dropped it to his side, and he turned the key in the door. Picking up his bag again, he pushed open the apartment door, and walked inside. He kicked the door shut behind him and let out a deep breath. He looked around his apartment as it looked entirely the same as it did twelve months ago. It seemed to be about the only thing that didn't change in Chicago while he had been gone. It didn't take him long to strip himself of his uniform and to hang it up in his closet in its' rightful place and change into some ARMY shorts and a gray ARMY t-shirt which he used to use for his daily PT when he was active duty. He plopped down onto his bed and he rested his arms behind his head. It wasn't long before he fell asleep for his first day back in Intelligence the next day.

XOXOXO

Here was Chapter 1 as promised! I thought that putting Erin in a relationship with Kelly will give Jay one more obstacle to jump over to get his girl, and we all know that Jay can overcome anything when it involves getting Erin in the end. ;)

Let me know your thoughts!

"Chase"


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Jay's alarm buzzed loudly and echoed through his one-bedroom apartment. He always made sure to have it loud enough so that it was guaranteed to wake him up no matter how sleepy, hungover, or sick he was. Jay with the side of his face buried inside of his pillow reached out with his arm that was hanging over the side of the bed and dropped his balled up fist on the button on top of the alarm clock to turn off the incessant buzzing noise. Jay pushed himself up and threw his legs over the side of the bed. He stood to his feet and carried himself to the bathroom so that he could wake himself up, shave, and shower all before his first day back in Intelligence.

Twenty minutes later, he emerged from the shower a new man. He dressed in a pair of dark wash jeans, a navy blue long sleeved shirt, and he pulled his leather jacket over that. After slipping into his black boots, he made sure to shove his wallet in his back pocket along with his cell phone in the other pocket. Jay exited the bedroom and made his way into the half-sized kitchen where he grabbed a package of chocolate fudge pop tarts. He left the apartment minutes later, locking up behind him.

After stopping at his regular coffee shop where he stopped by every morning, before he went on deployment, to get a coffee, he headed straight for the precinct downtown where the Intelligence Unit worked out of. He pulled into the garage, parking on the lower level that was marked for detectives. Hopping out of his car, he grabbed his coffee and pop tarts and began the trek inside of the precinct.

"There he is! Detective Chuckles, oh how I have missed that charming smile of yours." The desk sergeant, Trudy Platt, greeted him with her winning disposition. She walked around from behind her desk and she gave him one of the biggest hugs that he had received yet, something he didn't expect from Trudy of all people.

"How are you, Platt? How's it been going around here? You keeping everyone here in line here at the 21st?" Jay asked, taking a sip from his white coffee cup.

"You know it, HalSTUD," Platt winked at him before returning to her spot behind the desk.

Jay laughed before heading for the stairs that led up to the bullpen, shaking his head. At first he had been weird out by Platt and her sexual advances towards him, but it had become routine and something that he definitely missed while he had been overseas. He stuck his hand into the palm scanner, before typing in his personal passcode, and listened as the gate to the bullpen buzzed and unlocked. He was surprised to see that Platt didn't have to be the one to let him in and escort him up, and that it still recognized his palm print and passcode.

The Intelligence Unit was a group of individuals and detectives with the Chicago Police Department that worked a variety of cases, mostly the high-profile ones or one that required extensive undercover work which the detectives in the Intelligence Unit were trained for. Their cases ranged from anything involving homicides, narcotics, human trafficking, and organized crime. Jay climbed the stairs to the unit and what was known as the bullpen which was an accurate description of the desks that were lined up on each side of the bullpen and faced a dry-erase board that all their case information would be pinned onto.

"There he is!" Alvin Olinsky's voice boomed through the empty bullpen. He and Voight were always the first ones to arrive to work, and the last ones to leave. They were the true definition of a dedicated officer.

"Here I am. How's it, Al?" He asked, reaching out his hand. Alvin and Jay shook hands before he went to sit at his desk.

"So, how was it over there?" Alvin asked. Jay shifted his eyes around the empty bullpen trying to accurately describe what his experience was over there.

"It's definitely not like the movies, bro. Hollywood makes war look glamorous. I thought the conditions were bad the first two times that I went over there, but that place only gets worse with time, and I'm not sure if our presence over there is making it better or worse." Jay shrugged his shoulders as Voight cleared his throat to excuse himself between the two and the conversation that they were having.

"Can I see you for a minute, Halstead?" Voight asked and Jay nodded his head slowly.

XOXOXO

"Welcome back," Voight said as he walked back around his desk after letting Jay into his office. He sat down in his chair and rested his hands on the arm rests.

"Thank you sir, thank you for holding my spot." Jay said, taking a seat across from him.

"I just wanted to check in with you, make sure that you were okay." Voight said, stumbling over his words not quite sure how to word what he wanted to say.

"You're trying to play shrink and ask me if I'm emotionally stable to come back to work after spending a year in a combat zone." Jay had been asked that many times after he returned from each deployment that he had been on. "I'm fine, Voight."

"If anything starts going on or if you need some time off to debrief, you let me know." Voight said. "I don't want you getting in your own head, and then putting your life or one of the lives of your team members out there in danger."

"I'm fine, Voight, really, and if anything starts to rear its ugly head my way I know to take a step back." Jay said, and he listened as Voight dismissed him as it was all that he had to talk to him about. Jay stood up and he turned to head for the door.

"Halstead…"

"Yes?"

"You forgot something." Voight said sliding Jay's holstered gun and detective's badge across his desk and in Jay's direction.

"Right, thank you sir." He chuckled, reaching for the gun and holstering it on his hip, and sliding the badge onto his belt as well before exiting Voight's office.

XOXOXO

"How'd the conversation go with your future father-in-law?" Antonio Dawson, who came out of nowhere, nudged his side.

"Future father-in-law? What are you talking about?" Jay asked with a slightly confused look on his face.

"Erin may be with Kelly now but trust me, she doesn't look at him the way that she looks at you, and this last year most of our conversations were about you and the things that you two used to do together. It's fate, bro." Antonio said, sitting down in his seat behind his desk. "Trust me, I'm an expert."

"This coming from the man that's divorced and living alone." Jay shot back and Antonio pretended to stab himself in his chest, an 'ouch' rolling off his lips causing both of the men to chuckle as Erin walked up the stairs and into the bullpen.

"Why do the two of you look like you've done something wrong?" Erin asked, suspicious of the two of them and the innocent looks on their faces as if they weren't just talking about her.

"Nothing." The two responded in unison.

Erin nodded her head, clicking her tongue, and heading for the breakroom so that she could get herself a cup of coffee. Taking his own coffee in his hand, he walked into the breakroom as she pouring the black caffeinated liquid into the mug from the pot. He approached the counter and he leaned against it with his hand. He exhaled softly before turning and pressing his back against it and bringing his coffee cup to his lips, taking a sip from it.

"So, how long have you and Kelly been seeing each other?"

"About six months or so," She took a sip of the coffee from her own mug, and gazing up at him.

"It's going good? He's treating you right?" Jay asked.

"Are you getting all protective on me, Jay? It's cute, really." Erin chuckled, reaching her hand up and patting his shoulder. "I appreciate it, I do, but Kelly's a good man. He's good to me."

"Then, that's all that matters." Jay smiled before they were summoned back to the bullpen so that the briefing for a new case that the unit had caught could start.

XOXOXO

After the briefing, Jay and Erin were given a task to go talk to the grieving widow of their victim who was a high-profile target, a politician, and who seemed to be involved in the middle of a drug transaction when he had been killed. They were also told that they had to be as discreet as possible when it came to poking around the man's business and when talking to the politician's wife, seeing as there were not only ears and eyes everywhere but there were cameras, voice recorders, and hungry paparazzi and news reporters waiting on the latest scoop from a cop working the case. Even if they did get the real scoop the media always found a way to twist their words around to juice up ratings.

"I've been gone for a year; I think I should be able to drive." Jay argued with his beautiful brunette partner as they exited the precinct through the back garage to get to the unmarked police vehicles.

"Oh, is that so? Well, you thought wrong." Erin stuck her tongue out as they approached an all-black, dark tinted, fully loaded, Dodge Charger.

"Well, I'm glad at least your refusal to let me drive didn't change over the last year." Jay muttered.

"What?"

"Nothing." Jay smiled at her, sliding into the passenger's side of the car, and closing the door behind him.

Jay strapped himself into the vehicle as she did the same. Erin began pulling out of the parking space and the parking garage, entering onto Chicago's streets from the back alley as if it was just another car and another Chicagoan citizen making his way through the city. Being an Intelligence detective definitely had its' perks like being able to ride around in souped up Dodge Charger, but it had its' downfalls when they had to conceal themselves at all times, and blend into the public pretending to be like any other person.

They arrived a few minutes later at the address of the house of the politician that was running in the next mayor's election race. He was the most viable candidate to beat out their current mayor reelection. He was a real threat to their current mayor's campaign for next year. Jay whistled as he tried to guess in his head just how much the house that they were sitting outside of cost them. Erin threw the car in parked, taking one look at her partner, before hopping out. He climbed out himself and he took a look at his surroundings. They wouldn't have any problem blending in considering there were quite a few people there to offer their condolences to the politician's wife, take care of the press that was gathered down the street behind the police blockade, and security detail for the wife.

"Mrs. Lorna Williams?" Jay asked, offering out his hands. "We'd like to extend our deepest condolences for your loss." He shook her hand gently.

"Thank you. Who are you?" Lorna asked with a confused look on her face.

"Give us a minute, would you?" Jay asked the security detail and Lorna's sister who had been surrounding her since the moment that she got the news.

"We're detectives with the Chicago Police Department's Intelligence Unit and we just wanted to talk to you about your husband, get to know who he was, and get a feel for how the last few days for him have been." Erin said calmly.

"You know, you two are the only ones who wanted to ask me about him, and not questions about his whereabouts or if he was having an affair or anything detrimental to his reputation." Lorna let out a sad chuckle.

XOXOXO

After a conversation with Lorna Williams about her husband, trying to get her to focus on who he was and get a feel about him since they personally didn't know the man, they headed back to the bullpen to relay their clues to the team that was waiting. Since Jay and Erin were mainly tasked with finding out who Lorna's husband was, and putting feelers out there, they were able to kind of generally grasp who the man was behind the political mud-slinging campaigns and winning disposition at his rallies.

"If he was such a good man and wonderful father, then how the hell did Mr. Williams turn up bent over a coffee table with a nose full of cocaine and two dead prostitutes?" Voight asked.

"What if this entire thing was staged?" Jay blurted out after a few moments of silence between the unit. All attention was focused on him in that moment.

"What do you mean?" Voight asked, giving him the opportunity to explain himself.

"I mean, look at the ME's case report. It says that full rigor had already set in and worn off by the time that the officers had found him. What if…what if we explore the possibility that Williams did indeed have a drug problem, and that someone either laced the cocaine with something knowing that Williams was going to buy it to get his next fix, and what if the person that laced it was working for the opponent's team, the current mayor's team? After Williams becomes unconscious, the entire murder scene is staged, and I'm sure the photos will definitely surface soon in the Enquirer or something." Jay laid out the option on the table before returning to his desk and plopping down in his seat earning a thumbs up from Adam Ruzek, the newest member to the Intelligence Unit who had first joined when Jay had left for deployment.

XOXOXO

When they had come to a dead end on the case, Voight had decided that they should wrap it up for the night and start fresh on Monday morning with a fresh mind and fresh eyes. The only time that they'd be called in over the weekend is if they had a new case, or if there was a pressing lead that needed to be addressed. Voight would usually chase the lead down and if it certainly turned out to be something promising then he'd call the rest of the team in not wanting to pull them away from any of their weekend plans.

Jay sat at the bar at Molly's shortly after they had been dismissed and they had gone their separate ways. Erin went to her dinner at the firehouse with Kelly, Voight and Alvin stuck around probably to have a drink of the hard liquor that Voight kept hidden in his desk for them to indulge in, and Dawson went home to his children who were staying with him for the weekend. Adam Ruzek was the only one that decided to join him at the bar instead of go home to his significant other, Kim Burgess, who was a patrol officer that worked the beat but often did a little work here and there for the Intelligence Unit.

"So Kim turned down an opportunity to join Intelligence while I was gone? She must be bat shit crazy." Jay chuckled taking a sip from his beer bottle.

"It just wasn't her time. She felt that the streets could benefit from her being on the streets." Adam explained. "I got to piss. I'll be back." Adam stood from his seat and went to use the bathroom while Jay swirled his beer around.

"You okay?" Gabby asked, wiping down the bar in front of him, only for him to place the beer bottle back down on it. Jay snapped out of his thoughts at her voice.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good." He chuckled softly running his hands over his head. "Why aren't you on shift tonight?"

"I actually took this shift off. Matt and I are dog sitting for a friend, and well, we can't leave the bugger alone for more than twenty-four hours, so I switched with someone. I can't wait until our friends come and pick that animal back up and then I can kill Matt for agreeing to do it." Gabby tried to smile sweetly, but expressing a clear distain for the dog who she was dog sitting.

"I didn't hear a thing." He chuckled knowing that she just admitted that she was going to kill Matt, but he pretended not to hear it. "Erin's at the firehouse, she's having dinner with Kelly tonight, actually. I presume she's having dinner with everyone else as well."

After a long pause, Gabby spoke up, "How long have you been in love with Erin, Jay?"

He raised his eyes to look at her surprised as to why she would ask him something like that. He wasn't in love with Erin. Sure, he was attracted to his brunette partner who was packing heat and was a total badass, but who wouldn't be attracted to her? Anyone that found her not attractive was either not human or not into women. Jay wasn't even sure what it was like to be in love with someone, but comparing his feelings to the movies and to the books, and what they thought love was, he could surely say that he wasn't in love with Erin.

"What? Are you crazy? I'm not in love with Erin." Jay scoffed.

"Shut up, yes you are. You're extremely jealous of Kelly and the fact that she's at Firehouse 51 one now having dinner with him. Before you left, you would light up when she would walk into the room, talk, or let out one of her famous laughs. When you came in here last night and she jumped for joy, the biggest smile came to your face. You love her, Jay. You _love_ her." Gabby defended her position on the subject.

"Are you done?"

"Maybe, are you going to leave if I say no?" She asked inquisitively.

"Yes, so let's change subjects or I'm going to pay my tab and head out." He narrowed his eyes, before smiling softly, and taking another sip of his beer.

"So, what did I miss out on?" Ruzek asked as he rejoined the two. Gabby and Jay exchanged glances, chuckling softly, before shaking their heads.

"Don't ask." Jay warned, and the three clinked the necks of their beer bottles together before taking a swig at once.

XOXOXO

And, here's chapter 2! I wrote chapters one and two in the same night, and I can honestly say I was like a butter on a roll. That made no sense, ignore my geeky roll puns. I thought about writing out the entire case, but that would take up a lot of space and take away from the point of the story. Also, please remember that Erin and Jay WILL be together, Kelly is just a small little obstacle in the way of that. It creates drama. What kind of fun would it be if I put them together right off the bat? That'd get boring…real fast.

Let me know what you think. Reviews, please!

"Chase"


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Good morning, the usual?" The barista, Laney Oliver, at the coffee shop on North Milwaukee Street that he frequented asked him as he walked inside, the bell ringing on top of the door signaling his entrance.

"The usual." He replied, nodding his head softly with a small smile crawling onto his lips. "What do I owe you?" Jay asked, pulling out his wallet from his back pocket.

"It's Wednesday, remember? Wednesdays your coffee is on me, or have you been gone too long?" The barista asked in a flirty tone.

"Right, free coffee Wednesdays, alright," Jay chuckled slipping his wallet into the back pocket of his jeans. "Is this today's paper?" He questioned to the stack of newspapers on the corner of the counter.

"Indeed," She replied. "I'll be right back." She grabbed a cup and went to pour and make his coffee just the way that he took it.

Jay took a few steps to the left towards the newspapers that were sitting on the counter. He reached for one of the papers letting his blue eyes read the latest headlines of the Chicago Tribune. He exhaled softly, clicking his tongue. DAUGHTER, MACY WILLIAMS, ARRESTED IN MURDER OF FATHER, EVAN WILLIAMS. He began reading the article that was attached to the front and center headline and scoffed as the reporter and writer of the article tried to play investigator, judge, and jury all in one article. He was sure that he was going to do the same with all the articles to come as well.

"Such a shame isn't it?" Laney's voice snapped Jay out of his thoughts.

"What?"

"It's a shame. Not only did one person lose their life that day, but she did as well when she thought that she could away with it."

"She had her reasons—no matter how many of us do or don't understand her motives behind it." Jay spoke, taking the cup of coffee from the blonde barista.

"Are you sure you're not a lawyer because you could definitely be the head of her defense team with that attitude?" Laney joked.

"Last time I checked, I was just a plain old Joe. I'll see you tomorrow morning, Laney. Thanks for the coffee." Jay said, raising the cup to her in thanks, as he turned and began to leave out the door.

"How about tonight? Say 8 pm at Blue?" Laney blurted out causing Jay to turn his head as he was midway in the entrance of the coffee shop.

"Why not? I'll see you at 8." Jay slid on his sunglasses and proceeded to finally exit the coffee shop.

The thing about being in the Intelligence Unit was that they did a lot of undercover work and telling someone like Laney what he really did for a living in a coffee shop full of people could definitely comprise any future cases. Besides, currently she was only his barista and he didn't owe any explanation to her. If anything ever came out of it, if it went anything farther than a barista and a patron, then he'd give her the explanation that she deserved. One of Voight's rules was that they never get their picture or their name in the paper so that they could never be jeopardized.

XOXOXO

"Headed to work?" Kelly asked as Erin entered into his kitchen. He was seated at the breakfast bar with a coffee cup in his hand, his salt and pepper hair disheveled, and half-asleep.

"Of course, where else am I headed at 7 o'clock in the morning?" Erin teased as she grabbed her to-go cup that was filled with coffee that he had poured for her minutes before.

"Right, stupid question." Kelly chuckled and his eyes followed her as she rested her arm on his shoulder, and let her fingers play with the small hairs on the back of his neck.

"What's up with you this morning? You're acting weird." Erin took a sip of her coffee.

"I don't have anything to worry about with Jay being back, do I?" He asked, and she cocked her head to the side looking at him.

"Of course not. I told you, we're just partners. If there was anything to worry about, do you really think that I would have come home with you last night, and woken up with you this morning?" Erin asked him and he shook his head.

"No, I know, I just…I just wanted to make sure." Kelly said as Erin looked at her watch.

"Well, stop worrying. You're going to get wrinkles, old man." Erin said in a playful tone, and gave him a kiss before she headed for the door. "See you tonight!" She called out to him before opening the door, slipping out through the crack, and closing it behind her.

XOXOXO

Jay climbed the steps to the Intelligence Unit's bullpen after bypassing the gate just like he had done for the last week. When he reached the top, he realized that he was one of the only ones there. Punctuality was one of his best qualities, and he thought it was always better to be half an hour early than five minutes late. Voight and Olinsky were the only other ones there and they were chatting with someone in his office. Jay was pretty convinced that Voight and Olinsky never left though because they were always the first ones there, and the last ones to leave.

"Halstead!" Voight called out, and Jay snapped his head to the side at the sound of his name.

"Little brother!" The voice from the guest in Voight's office shouted for him, and he made a face. He began walking towards the office when Jay's brother, Will Halstead, turned around to face him.

Before he could stop him, Will Halstead came running for him and wrapped his arms around Jay. He hugged him tightly, picking him up off the ground slightly. Will was Jay's older brother by a couple a years and he was a trauma surgeon in the emergency room at the Chicago Medical Center downtown. The two of them had a rocky relationship—to say the least. He was the reason that Jay joined the military right out of high school. Will going to medical school had completely drained the Halstead's funds and there was nothing left by the time that Jay graduated high school. While Jay had been overseas, his mother had gotten ill with cancer. Will was too busy at medical school to come home, and even though Jay was out on deployment, he took a few weeks of leave to be with her. While she fought as hard as she could, she ended up succumbing to the cancer leaving Jay to grieve by himself. Will nor his father made it in for the funeral.

When Will had made his appearance in Chicago a month before he deployed, Jay had decided that they could put everything behind him as long as Will decided to stop running and settle in one place. He did, and he got a job at the medical center there in Chicago. He hadn't gotten the chance to stop by the hospital or Will's apartment since he had gotten back, and he was pretty sure that he was going to hear it from him.

"Will—can't breathe—Will, let me down." Jay managed to get out between his brother squeezing him and lifting him up off his feet.

"Sorry, little brother." Will chuckled, setting Jay down and releasing him from his grip.

"What's up? What're you doing here?" Jay asked curious as to why he was there, talking to Voight and Olinsky of all people. As soon as Will was getting ready to answer him though, his pager began beeping.

"I'll let them explain it to you, I got to get back to the hospital." Will jogged out of the bullpen and down the stairs.

XOXOXO

"Why was my brother here?" Jay asked Voight and Olinsky who were leaning against the cabinets in Voight's office, as he took a seat across from them.

"We're opening an investigation at Chicago Med. Will came to us and said that there have been random bouts of missing medication from the hospital. He wants us to investigate and bring the person to justice quietly." Voight explained to him.

"Do we have any suspects?" Jay asked, knowing that his brother came to Voight because of Jay's connection to the unit.

"Your brother seems to suspect another doctor at the hospital, but I say that we don't zero in on that one doctor as it could divert our attention from others who are also reaching their hand into the medicine cabinet." Voight suggested, Olinsky and Jay nodding along and agreeing with his suggestion.

"Briefing in ten?" Olinsky asked, Voight nodded his head.

Jay and Olinsky exited Voight's office and headed for the break room where he took the opportunity to refill the coffee cup that Laney had made him that morning. While breakroom coffee compared nothing to the coffee that Laney had made him this morning, it was something that he was going to have to do in order to stay awake throughout the day. Jay relied on caffeine, more so while he had been in the Middle East on overnight or even two night stakeouts in the middle of the desert watching enemy compounds. He was no stranger to staying awake.

"Who is Laney and why does she want you to call her?" Alvin asked with a suspicious grin on his face.

"Laney, who, what?" Jay nearly spit out his coffee at the mention of the name.

"Laney," Alvin pointed to his coffee cup that he was holding his hand. Underneath his name and what was in his coffee, was Laney's name with her phone number and small message to call her.

"Ah, she's a barista at the place where I get my coffee every single morning. She used to make my coffee every single morning before I went on deployment and on Wednesdays she pays for my coffee, not sure why." Jay joked, but he shrugged back his shoulders. "She asked me out too, to meet her at the club Blue tonight but— "

"But what?"

"As much as I would love to go to Blue tonight to meet this girl, she knows nothing about who I am and what I do for a living, and my life is on the line every single day I a strap on that gun and badge…I'm not sure I'm ready for someone else's life to be on the line yet." Jay shrugged his shoulders again.

"Are you sure that's what's bothering you? Or is a certain five foot six brunette haired Intelligence detective that has a name rhyming with Karen?" Alvin cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Uh— "Jay began before footsteps approached them.

"Good morning, boys." Erin Lindsay greeted them, walking straight for the coffee pot, leaving Jay and Alvin looking like they were deer caught in headlights. "Why do I look like I just interrupted a very important conversation?"

"You didn't." Alvin and Jay both said in unison before turning on the heels of their feet and leaving the breakroom, leaving Erin completely and utterly confused.

XOXOXO

"We're going to take shifts; we're just going to be cops hanging around the hospital waiting to talk to witnesses and victims to a case. At least, that's what our story is going to be." Voight informed his team as they stood in a briefing circle a few blocks away from the hospital.

"Who's going in first?" Jay questioned.

"Funny you should ask that, Jay, you and Erin are going to take the first shift until about 7 tonight. After that, Ruzek and Dawson will take the overnight shift, and let's try to get this wrapped up by tomorrow. If this guy is a serious drug addict like Will explained, with the amount of medication that's being swiped, he or she can't fully go twenty-four hours without another fix." Voight explained to them, and everyone nodded their heads before they were dismissed from their little circle.

"Wait, so, how do we fake someone that is in the emergency room that we are waiting to talk to?" Jay asked, scratching his scruffy face.

"That's where your friend, Mouse, comes in. He faked a patient profile, he's going to be in surgery for over half of the time that you and Erin are in there. He'll be in recovery the other half, and we'll have to figure out the rest from there." Voight enjoyed having Mouse around, even though he was never going to admit something like that because it was Jay's idea to bring him there.

XOXOXO

"Eight hours, baby sitting a bunch of doctors and nurses, how fun." Erin grumbled underneath her breath as they entered through the emergency room doors of Chicago Med, their badges and guns tucked underneath their shirts and jackets so that they were unnoticeable.

"You forgot to mention eight hours with your favorite partner in the whole world." Jay shot his million-dollar smile at her, and she just let out a small chuckle.

"Of course, how could I forget that? That's my favorite part." Erin said as they approached the front desk.

"Lindsay, Halstead, what can I do for you two this afternoon?" One of the nurses at the nurse's station instantly recognized them as they walked in.

"A victim in a case of ours was taken here earlier this morning, and we're here to talk to him." Jay said leaning against the desk.

"Name?"

"Williams, Oliver Thomas," Jay gave her the name that Mouse had given him to give to the nurse so that they could pull up the profile.

"Ah, yes, right now it says that he's currently just went into surgery for extraction of the bullets in seven gunshots wounds. Seven?! He's still alive?!" The nurse exclaimed and the two detectives nodded their head, trying to suppress that laugh that was in the back of his throat. "You two are more than welcome to wait around, walk around, whatever, just don't get in the way."

"Got it, thanks." Jay said as the nurse disappeared from the station.

XOXOXO

Jay and Erin took a turn down one of the many long corridors of the Chicago Medical Center. She had her hands stuffed in her pockets, and her hair pulled back into a ponytail. Jay walked beside her in silence since they had just finished a conversation about how it had been to be away for Jay for an entire year.

"Are you sure we're not lost? Because I swear we've passed that courtesy phone twice already." Jay pointed out and she shook her head.

"No, these corridors just start looking the same after a while." Erin replied.

The two briefly walked past the lockup where they kept all the medications that only nurses and doctors had access to with a special key. The detectives listened as they heard some rumbling coming from inside the caged room. A few seconds later, they were able to catch a glimpse of a doctor and a nurse having an afternoon make-out session in there. Jay cursed underneath his breath and they continued walking. As they entered into the emergency room again so that they could people watch for a little while longer, Jay's phone began to ring. Voight's name flashed across the screen, and he knew it was Voight calling for an update.

"Halstead," He answered the phone.

"Anything yet?" Voight asked, and Jay could hear him pacing on the other line.

"No butterfingers getting into the medication boxes, but we've witness three different doctors making out with three different nurses. If that counts for anything…" Halstead shrugged his shoulders. Jay listened as the other line clicked and he held the phone from his ear to look at the screen. "He just hung up on me."

"Of course he did. Typical Voight." Erin laughed, shaking her head.

XOXOXO

By the time that Erin and Jay's shift at the hospital was over, and they had gotten all the 'information' that they had needed from their fake victim, Dawson and Ruzek had entered the hospital to take over so that they could stake out the hospital waiting to talk to potential witnesses and stay with their fake victim. The two waved at Dawson and Ruzek before leaving the hospital, and hopping into the all black, dark-tinted Dodge Charger that was parked in the lot adjacent to the hospital.

"Any big plans for the night?" Erin asked as they sat down in the car. Jay blew on his hands to warm them up as they had turned into ice on the walk to the car.

"Not really, no, what about you?" Jay asked his partner as she started up the car. He covered the vents that were blowing out heat with his hands and sighed in relief.

"Just a quiet dinner in front of a new series on Netflix." Erin replied as she pulled out of the hospital parking lot.

"Did you finally finish NCIS? You were just starting the series before I left for Iraq." Jay chuckled.

"I did, and it took me nearly your entire deployment for me to finish it. Next up is Hawaii Five-O, I can always go for a little Alex O'Loughlin." Erin expressed.

"I never tuned into the new Hawaii Five-O, mind if I join?" Jay asked, turning his head to his partner.

XOXOXO

 **Sorry. Can't make it. Got caught up with work. Rain check?** Jay texted Laney using the phone number that she had left on the side of his coffee cup that morning, and the one that he had stored away in his phone for this moment. While he wasn't exactly still at work, he wasn't so sure that he was ready to share his life with someone who knew nothing about what he did. He was perfectly content being single and hanging out with his partner binging a television series on Netflix.

"I'll get the beer and the pizza." Jay offered to carry up their beverages and food that was going to keep them plenty happy during their little binge marathon that they were going to have until one or both got sleepy enough to call it a night.

"Thanks, I just need to let Patch out." Erin replied.

"You still have Patch? Aw man, he was just a puppy when I left." Jay chuckled, following behind her into her apartment building with the beer and pizza in hand.

"He's not a puppy anymore. He's an eighty-pound mongrel who thinks he's still a cute little lap dog." Erin laughed as she unlocked the door to her apartment, Patch running at her full speed. "See?"

Erin dropped to the floor to play with Patch as he danced around her to play with her as well. Jay stepped over the two of them and put the box of pizza and six pack of beer on the counter in the kitchen. He turned around to see the two growling at each other, and he could almost feel his stomach flipping from how he felt in that moment watching the two of them.

"Patch, be a good boy," Erin said as Patch walked over to Jay. He clearly wasn't a puppy anymore. He was a full-grown two-year-old rescued pit-bull with only one eye, and the heart of a puppy. Patch sniffed him out before deciding that he was good people.

"If you want to take him out, I'll get everything set up." Jay offered to her as he scratched Patch behind his ears, Patch instantly becoming his best friend.

"Alright, sounds good, come here Patch, let's go outside." Erin said, reaching for his leash and the gigantic collar of his.

XOXOXO

Once Patch and Erin returned, Jay had the television set up with the first episode in the new Hawaii Five-O series set up and ready to be watched by the two young detectives. As Jay and Erin had learned early on in their partnership, it was hard to watch law enforcement shows with either one of them or with both of them together because they tended to point out all the discrepancies that Hollywood put on the law enforcement portrayal in a TV series or a movie.

"Beer?" Jay handed her an opened beer, as they plopped down onto her couch together.

"Thank you, sir." Erin said as they clinked the necks of their beer bottles together, and he started the series.

The two of them reached forward at nearly the same time as the title credits began playing, and they touched as they reached for the same piece of pizza. Jay and Erin exchange apologies, and like his chivalrous self, he let her have the slice that they were reaching for before he took the one next to it. They looked at each other once with a smile, before they tuned into the television show. The first episode turned out to be entirely too good for their own good that not only did they not make any comments on the discrepancies in the show, but they didn't tear their eyes away from it once. Erin's obscene comments about Alex O'Loughlin were more than enough to keep him entertained for the entire night. He couldn't have imagined any other way to have spent his night.

XOXOXO

BOOM! There it is! I hope you guys liked it. I am loving, _loving_ , **loving** all the feedback that I'm receiving on this story and I surely do hope that I'm keeping your attention. Like I said, I'm slowly easing into the whole Linstead relationship thing, but I DO have to say that I already have it planned out of how the romantic relationship begins between the two and involves going undercover. SO HANG IN THERE WITH ME!

"Chase"


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"We've become hermits. We've binge watched three seasons in two weeks. What's wrong with us?" Erin laughed, covering her face with her hands as she sunk into her couch.

"I'm pretty sure your couch has a permanent imprint of by back and behind." Jay chuckled, resting his hand on his chest. "I'm also pretty sure that I've gained like ten pounds."

"Aw, are you worried about your figure?" Erin teased him, turning her head to look at her partner, and reaching over to also pat his food belly that he had been complaining about.

"Hey, my figure is what lands me dates." Jay chuckled, letting out a deep sigh. "Well, it used to anyways. I haven't had a date in…over a year?" He guessed.

"You need to get back out there." Erin nudged him with her elbow. "I'm sure that there's plenty of women willing to fall over themselves for you."

"I actually had a date…but I ended up cancelling on her at the last minute." Jay admitted shyly.

"How come?"

"There's just…there's someone else that I have feelings for and I didn't think it'd be right and fair to the girl from the coffee if I went out on a date with her and strung her along."

"Oooh, tell me who this other girl is…or is it a guy? Because that's totally cool too." Erin asked, suddenly interested in his love life. Jay was kind of taken back at the insinuation that he went the other way though, even if there was nothing wrong with it.

"It's a woman, and I can't tell you that. I'd have to kill you if I did." Jay smacked his lips together, and snapped his fingers. "We're not going to sit here and gossip about my love life any longer though."

Jay stood up, gathering their dishes together, and taking them to the sink in her apartment's kitchen. He set the dishes in the sink, and turned on the water to warm it up so that he could wash the dishes off. Moments later, Erin brought in the half-empty pizza box so that she could refrigerate the left overs and eat them in the coming days. Jay filled the sink with water and suds, shutting off the water, and beginning to scrub the dishes clean. Once he scrubbed the dishes, he switched them over to the other side of the sink, and washed them off with cold water. He stacked them neatly in the drying bin on top of the counter, and shut off the water once he was finished. He wiped his hands on a towel and he tossed the towel in the brunette's direction.

"Where's Kelly? I feel like he hasn't come around or well, I haven't seen him since that one night at Molly's when I came back into town." Jay questioned.

"He's around. He was out of town this week visiting his sister in New York. I think he's threatened by you." Erin admitted, leaning against one of the kitchen counters, causing Jay to laugh.

"Threatened by me? Why?" Jay asked.

"Exactly." Erin shrugged her shoulders. "I think he might think that there's something more to us than just a partnership but—I mean—we already went down that road or at least started too and we knew that we couldn't do it."

"Actually, you told me that we couldn't do it. I was all for defying Voight and getting into a relationship with you." Jay teased, trying to keep the mood light.

"Yeah, but then we both would have been out of a job or back on beat patrol, and being out of Voight's good graces is not a place that you want to be." Erin told him.

"I would have transferred out for you." Jay replied.

"But then I would have lost my partner, and that is not something that I'm willing to give up. I already lost one member of Intelligence last year, I wasn't prepared to lose another." Erin spoke of Julie, the member of Intelligence that was killed in the line of duty while they were in the middle of a major case.

"What about now?" Jay moved in a slight bit closer to her, his hands in his pockets.

"Now—I'm with Kelly." Erin sucked in a breath, her eyes moving from his lips, to his nose, to his baby blue eyes outlining every single feature with her eyes.

"I should go." Jay smiled, knowing that if he didn't move past her or away from her then the two of them were definitely going to have some issues.

"I'll see you tomorrow." Erin followed behind him, walking him towards the door.

"Don't watch anymore episodes without me." Jay warned her, opening her front door, and slipping out into the hallway.

"I won't. Same time Friday?" Erin asked, sticking her head slightly out of her apartment door. He nodded, said goodnight, and watched as she shut the door.

XOXOXO

THE NEXT MORNING

Jay's run came to an end just a few blocks away from his apartment building. The sun was just breaching the horizon. He brought his arms over his head and interlocked his fingers behind his head to help expand his lungs so that he could breathe better. He walked the remainder of the way back to his apartment in that position, and by the time that he got back, his breathing had evened out. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he opened the door to the stairwell, and headed up the three flights of stairs to the floor that his apartment was located on.

As he walked down the hallway, he focused his eyes on his apartment door. He was about to pull the keys to his apartment from his pocket when he noticed that the door was slightly pushed open. Turning his head to the side in confusion knowing that he had locked the door behind him before he went out for his run, he slowly pushed it open with the palm of his hand, sticking his head around the door to peek inside. He quietly stepped into the apartment and reached for his pistol that was holstered next to his badge on the table right next to the front door. He pulled it out of the holster, cocked the trigger, and began by clearing the bedroom that was on the left. He slowly moved towards the living room which was empty as well, and then the kitchen where he could hear someone rustling through his cabinets.

"Put your gun away, little brother. It's just me." Will, Jay's older brother, voiced from the kitchen.

"Damn it, Will, you should have called. What the hell are you doing here?" Jay holstered his weapon and set it down on the kitchen table.

"I did call. You left your phone here at the apartment. I was calling to see if you wanted to grab a breakfast bite together before we both head to work." Will turned around with a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Yeah, sure, that sounds good. Let me shower and change, then I'll be ready to go." Jay said, turning on his heel and heading for the bedroom, taking his gun with him.

XOXOXO

As the Halstead brothers entered through the breakfast diner door, the bell chimed above them. Considering it was a diner and not a restaurant, he assumed that they were able to sit wherever they pleased and the nearest server would serve them next. Jay took a seat in one of the empty booths, and his brother sat across from him. He made sure that his badge and gun was covered by his long sleeve black shirt and leather jacket that he was wearing, which was all about maintaining his cover when he wasn't inside of the precinct. A waitress came over to them moments later with two mugs in her right hand and a pot of coffee in the other. She poured to cups for them and greeted them with a warm smile.

"Two breakfast specials?" The waitress asked, and the brothers nodded their head.

"Thank you." They said in union before Jay's eyes moved towards his brother who was looking at him, and sipping on his freshly poured coffee.

"So, how's it like being back?" Will asked considering he hadn't had much time to check in with his brother after he had returned from deployment, and Jay had been extremely busy jumping back into work to check in with Will.

"It's good—I thought it might have been a harder readjustment to civilian life, but it's like I picked up right where I left off…except for a few things." Jay reached for his mug and he took a sip of the black liquid.

"Yeah? Such as?" Will questioned curiously.

"I mean, Erin, she's with Kelly." Jay mentioned, biting backwards on his bottom lip.

"Why don't you just tell her how you feel, man?" Will asked. It seemed like everyone in the world knew that there was something more than a partnership between Jay and Erin.

"I, in not so many words, kind of did last night." Jay said in a quiet voice. Will looked at his brother giving him a non-verbal response that he needed to continue without having to really say it. "She shot me down, man. I mean, I told her I would have transferred out of Intelligence last year if it meant that we could be together, and she told me that she wouldn't have been emotionally ready to lose me as a partner after losing Julie."

"That was a year ago though, what about now?" Will asked, as he eyed the waitress walking back over to him, and laying their two breakfast specials on the table. The two brothers thanked her before Jay picked up his fork and began digging into his food.

"She's with Kelly now. End of story." Jay said.

"No, not end of story. Fight for your woman, you pathetic bum." The two of them shared a laugh and Jay just shook his head. "In other news, if you need to talk, you can talk to me, you can talk to someone at the hospital, whoever you want, okay?" Jay nodded his head to Will's offer.

XOXOXO

After breakfast with his brother, he made it to the precinct with five minutes to spare. Those five minutes are what saved him from the Voight death stare that he would have gotten any number of seconds after the time that he was set to be there. Even being five minutes early was pushing it by Voight's standards. As he walked inside of the bullpen, he noticed that no one was sitting at Erin's desk, which means that Erin was awfully late by her own standards considering she was always there at least a half hour after Jay and before everyone else was.

"Where's— "Jay began to ask before Voight interrupted him to begin the briefing on the case that they had just recently caught, clearly not fazed by the fact that Erin wasn't present.

Erin must have reached out to him to tell him that she was either going to be late or she wasn't going to show up that day. Jay took a seat at his desk and he turned his eyes to Voight and attempted to listen to what he was saying but instead thoughts flooded his mind about Erin and whether or not she was okay. Once the briefing was over, Jay headed into Voight's office, knocking on the door before entering.

"Is Erin not coming in today?" Jay asked curiously.

"Yeah, no, she's feeling under the weather today. She sounded like she was losing her voice." Voight said, and while he knew that Voight was telling the truth, he was a little suspicious at the excuse to why Erin wasn't coming into work. Erin _never_ got sick.

"Oh, got you, alright, well I'll see you down there." Jay turned on his heel and left the office to head for the underground garage where they were set to strap up and raid a warehouse where an arms deal was set to take place between a local gang and overseas crime organization.

XOXOXO

Jay slipped on his Kevlar bulletproof vest, tightening the Velcro once it was settled onto his chest. As he was strapping on the vest, and the weapons to various parts of his body. The moment came that they were all strapped up in their weapons and bulletproof vests and they were ready to head out so that they could get to the warehouse, set up, and get into position for the raid that was supposed to take place.

As the black Chevrolet SUV rolled up in front of him, he opened up the back door and along with the others, he hopped right in. They took the back roads to the warehouse, ending up on the north side of the metal shack across the river which happened to be the perfect spot since it was nestled in the middle of a parking lot for a business allowing their SUV to blend in perfectly. The detectives grabbed their weapons and stealthily approached the building. As they surrounded the building, Jay hopped up onto a set of barrels to peer into the window quickly before jumping back down.

"We have two white males that are in the center of the warehouse. Four white males on the north end of the warehouse, two white males and two Latinos on the south end all providing protection for their respective agent. Protection detail is all holstering handguns and assault rifles, the two men in the middle have glocks." Jay informed the other Intelligence detectives that were in close quarters with him.

"Ten on five, I'm not sure how I like those odds." Adam Ruzek voiced from the back.

"Actually, ten on six." Erin Lindsay spoke up as she ran towards the group, suited up with her weapon of choice in her hand, cocked, and loaded.

"Welcome to the takedown kid." Voight squeezed Erin's shoulder and she gave him a small smile. "Let's get in position."

XOXOXO

"Chicago Police Department, FREEZE!" All of the Intelligence detectives yelled at the same time and at various times.

The suspects didn't hesitate to shoot though. The moment that they raised their weapons towards the detectives, bullets began flying. Jay didn't hesitate to hold his finger on the trigger and he began spraying bullets across the warehouse.

"Halstead! Halstead! It's over, they're dead." Antonio grabbed his arm, releasing his finger from the trigger.

"There is always more of them. Always." Jay's eyes were wide open, and he shook as Antonio took the weapon from him.

"There's nobody else in this warehouse." Erin took Jay by the arm and sat him down on a pile of wooden boxes that stored the weapons that were supposed to be traded and sold in the arms deal that they so happen to have interrupted.

"Right, right, I know that." Jay nodded his head and while he looked scared out of his mind, he was trying to keep a good front on. "Are you feeling better?"

"What?" Erin asked.

"Voight said you were sick this morning." Jay mumbled, trying to keep his mind off things.

"I think we all know that I wasn't sick." Erin continued to move her fingers over his scruffy face, continuing to soothe him. "Kelly and I got into this huge blow out fight last night after you left, and I just didn't feel like getting out of bed, but I realized that I can't do that every time I get into it with him or with any guy for that matter. I love my job too much."

"I'm sorry." Jay apologized. He was apologizing for much more than her fight with Kelly, but for over reacting, for getting stuck in the moment with his finger glued to the trigger, and all of the other things.

XOXOXO

I apologize that this was so late, folks! I went out of town to Disney World for the weekend and then was thrown back into work the moment I got back sooooo here's your newest chapter. Hope it's up to par! Review please.

"Chase"


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